Checks if a given 'refname' is acceptable, and exits with a non-zero
status if it is not.
-A reference is used in git to specify branches and tags. A
+A reference is used in Git to specify branches and tags. A
branch head is stored in the `refs/heads` hierarchy, while
a tag is stored in the `refs/tags` hierarchy of the ref namespace
(typically in `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads` and `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags`
directories or, as entries in file `$GIT_DIR/packed-refs`
if refs are packed by `git gc`).
-git imposes the following rules on how references are named:
+Git imposes the following rules on how references are named:
. They can include slash `/` for hierarchical (directory)
grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin with a
. They cannot have ASCII control characters (i.e. bytes whose
values are lower than \040, or \177 `DEL`), space, tilde `~`,
- caret `{caret}`, or colon `:` anywhere.
+ caret `^`, or colon `:` anywhere.
-. They cannot have question-mark `?`, asterisk `{asterisk}`, or open
+. They cannot have question-mark `?`, asterisk `*`, or open
bracket `[` anywhere. See the `--refspec-pattern` option below for
an exception to this rule.
. They cannot contain a sequence `@{`.
+. They cannot be the single character `@`.
+
. They cannot contain a `\`.
These rules make it easy for shell script based tools to parse
reference names, pathname expansion by the shell when a reference name is used
-unquoted (by mistake), and also avoids ambiguities in certain
+unquoted (by mistake), and also avoid ambiguities in certain
reference name expressions (see linkgit:gitrevisions[7]):
. A double-dot `..` is often used as in `ref1..ref2`, and in some
- contexts this notation means `{caret}ref1 ref2` (i.e. not in
+ contexts this notation means `^ref1 ref2` (i.e. not in
`ref1` and in `ref2`).
-. A tilde `~` and caret `{caret}` are used to introduce the postfix
+. A tilde `~` and caret `^` are used to introduce the postfix
'nth parent' and 'peel onion' operation.
. A colon `:` is used as in `srcref:dstref` to mean "use srcref\'s
OPTIONS
-------
---allow-onelevel::
---no-allow-onelevel::
+--[no-]allow-onelevel::
Controls whether one-level refnames are accepted (i.e.,
refnames that do not contain multiple `/`-separated
components). The default is `--no-allow-onelevel`.
--refspec-pattern::
Interpret <refname> as a reference name pattern for a refspec
(as used with remote repositories). If this option is
- enabled, <refname> is allowed to contain a single `{asterisk}`
- in place of a one full pathname component (e.g.,
- `foo/{asterisk}/bar` but not `foo/bar{asterisk}`).
+ enabled, <refname> is allowed to contain a single `*`
+ in the refspec (e.g., `foo/bar*/baz` or `foo/bar*baz/`
+ but not `foo/bar*/baz*`).
--normalize::
Normalize 'refname' by removing any leading slash (`/`)
characters and collapsing runs of adjacent slashes between
- name components into a single slash. Iff the normalized
+ name components into a single slash. If the normalized
refname is valid then print it to standard output and exit
- with a status of 0. (`--print` is a deprecated way to spell
- `--normalize`.)
+ with a status of 0, otherwise exit with a non-zero status.
+ (`--print` is a deprecated way to spell `--normalize`.)
EXAMPLES
* Determine the reference name to use for a new branch:
+
------------
-$ ref=$(git check-ref-format --normalize "refs/heads/$newbranch") ||
-die "we do not like '$newbranch' as a branch name."
+$ ref=$(git check-ref-format --normalize "refs/heads/$newbranch")||
+{ echo "we do not like '$newbranch' as a branch name." >&2 ; exit 1 ; }
------------
GIT